1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image printer having a pictorial tone changing function, an image printing method to be executed by the image printer and a recording medium in which is recorded an image printing program based on which the image printer executes the image printing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, printers are provided which have a function to edit an image taken in from a portable storage medium such as a memory card without involving a personal computer.
With such a printer, for example, a photograph taken with a digital still camera (DSC) can easily be edited for printing directly by the printer without involving a personal computer, and therefore, the printer is now becoming a very useful tool for users who have no personal computer. Additionally, in the event that image data stored within the DSC or image data stored in an exterior recording medium is stored in the printer, the images so stored can be printed repeatedly. Thus, the printer is also useful in this respect.
In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-73912 (hereinafter, referred to as the “patent document”) below proposes a printer which can print names and addresses of desired addressees selected from address book data obtained from an external terminal on addressing sides of sheets and images and texts on reverse or communication sides of the sheets.
In the printer described in the patent document above, however, to print image data representing the animal of the year in the twelve animal signs of the Oriental zodiac on New Year's cards, the image data on the animal of the year needs to be stored in the printer in advance. In addition, in order to change image data representing the animal of the year depending on addressees, several types of image data need to be stored in the printer in advance, leading to a situation in which the image data to be stored in the printer exceeds the capacity of a built-in memory.